TNAG-0695-FCO40-845-Policy-on-salaries-for-civil-service-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 51

RECORD OF CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS AND MR TOM PENDRY MP HELD AT THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY 1978 AT 3.30 PM

Present:

The Rt Hon The Lord Goronwy-Roberts

of Caernarvon and of Ogwen

Mr J Thompson

Mr JL Jones

Mr T Pendry MP

Mrs M Cheung

Miss V So

Mr J Bloom

Mr M Hegarty

Mr Pendry started by saying that, since the point at issue concerned the Shorthand and Audio Typists Association of Hong Kong (SATA), he would suggest that Miss So should first put forward the Association's point of view. Miss So went through the SATA case emphasising the worsening relativity which her members had suffered in relation to other grades within the Hong Kong public service since the introduction of equal pay. She explained that the members had hoped that the 1976 restructuring of the secretarial class would put right these anomalies but, in fact, the situation had been made worse. Entry qualifications to the shorthand and audio typists grade had been increased and, at the same time, the minimum point on the salary scale had been decreased. This situation had been aggravated by the worsening promotion prospects of the grade due to the decrease in the number of personal secretaries within the public service, the grade to which her members would be promoted, together with the redundancies amongst personal secretaries consequent upon the reduction in size of their grade.

2.

All of these factors had led to disaffection and increased saff turnover. SATA had had consultations with the Hong Kong Government but had been unable to reach agreement. They had, therefore, peticioned the Governor, who had replied that he did not feel able to intervene. Subsequently, the Association organised a work to rule but this had been unsuccessful because the Government had been able to minimise its effects by using staff from the other two secretarial grades who were not in dispute.

3.

Miss So claimed that in a press statement in 1977, the Secretary for the Civil Service had said that, if SATA could provide evidence that outside employers were paying more, their case would be re-examined. The Association therefore commissioned a survey by the Hong Kong Productivity Centre, the results of which supported their claim but were not accepted by the Hong Kong Government. The Goverent relied for their comparisons on a survey carried out by the Pay Investigation Unit but the Association expressed reserve abon this survey since they claimed to have found discrepancies in the results.

/4. In October 1977